The EU often stands accused of complexity and detachment from its citizens. One novelty introduced by the Lisbon treaty – the European citizens' initiative – will challenge this, but only if it is truly embraced by our citizens.

From the moment I took office in February, I have made it one of my priorities to put the European citizens' initiative in place as soon as possible. Under a proposal being made today by the European commission, members of the public will for the first time be able to call for new European laws. This will put into practice a whole new form of participatory democracy in the EU.

It is a concrete example of what we talk about so often in Brussels: "bringing Europe closer to its citizens". It is my conviction that fostering a lively cross-border debate about what we are doing in Brussels will lead to better rule-making, inspired by the grass roots.

I am very excited about this idea, which I believe represents a real step forward in the democratic life of the union.

Under our plans, members of the public could invite the European commission to put forward legislative proposals – in areas where the commission has the power to do so – providing at least 1 million citizens from at least one third of EU member states sign the initiative (nine countries, as things stand). To ensure that what we receive are initiatives that have genuine support, our proposal suggests a minimum number of signatories from each country.

In drawing up our plan, I was determined to ensure that the procedures are simple, user-friendly and accessible to all – and not too bureaucratic. That's why, for example, there will be no restrictions on where and how people can sign up, be it in the street or online. This point was underlined by many people who took part in the consultation process on the initiative. Local authorities in the UK strongly supported the provisions for online participation.

It is also crucial that this revolutionary new feature of the democratic process should be credible, that it guarantees data protection and is immune from abuse or fraud.

The commission maintains fully its right to bring forward EU legislation. But we in the commission are committed to take very seriously citizens' initiatives.

Once the necessary signatures have been collected and verified and we have checked whether the idea falls within the powers of the EU, the commission will have four months to decide how to proceed. We could come forward with a proposal for legislation, follow up the issue in another way, by taking other measures such as a feasibility study, or we might decide that it is not appropriate to take any action. Whatever we do, we will have to explain our reasoning in a publicly available report.

The European citizens' initiative proposal is the result of a wide-ranging consultation process, which garnered input from around 330 individuals, organisations and public authorities. For example, contributions from the UK strongly supported the introduction of a time limit for the commission to examine the initiatives.

We have taken on board the good advice received and learnt from the experience of similar schemes operated in some of our member states. Unsurprisingly, the UK has always been at the forefront. Its experience with the practice of formal requests from citizens dates as far back as the 14th century. Today several of its institutions – the Scottish parliament, No 10 Downing Street and the National Assembly for Wales – have e-petitions systems.

We have also been encouraged by a resolution from the European parliament giving enthusiastic support to the idea. I hope that now both the EP and the EU member countries in the council can adopt our proposal by the end of the year, so that the first initiatives can start early in 2011.

But finally, this initiative is all about taking the EU outside of the "Brussels beltway" and giving it full democratic expression. It is for the people to make use of this fascinating innovation. I am very much looking forward to see the European citizens' initiative in action. My message to EU citizens is – make use of it!